specter pushing on spygate

[trapezeus]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080514/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_spygate_specter;_ylt=AiXOvP6YaToQ4snGYutpNb8LMxIF

Seems like Arlan specter isn't going to let the NFL simply say, "there isn't more to the story". I know that this can be viewed as useless political posturing, but seeing that politicians on both sides of the aisle have done very little for me, it would be nice if they could get the Pats removed from the NFL.

That would finally signal a politician working for me as opposed to all the lobbied interests out there. "here we go specter, here we go" CLAP CLAP!

[Scumbag College]

Isn't there a war going on that our congressmen should be worrying about??? Aren't we as a people getting raped at the gas pumps while oil companies get to merge at will and record astronomical profits???

Look, I love that the Pats are getting their balls busted and that their dynasty might all be a sham, but this reeks of another diversionary tactic by our do nothing congress to get our minds off of the issues in hand. This reminds me of the Terry Shiavo nonsense and gay marriage baloney that they tried to sell us.

Go Bills.

[Mitchy moo]

Good for him, I hope he forces the NFL to realize that the Pats have screwed everyone and they need to be punished in a matter consistent to what is fair. A guy gets high during the offseason and has to sit for a year because he broke the rules and loses $4 M in salary. The Pats challenge the integrity of the game and get fined 25% of that and lose a draft pick. No suspensions for breaking the rules?? It's a joke.

Sit BB for a year and no post-season for the Pats for 3 years. Then we'll see if the rest of the league can find a way to modify itself that this never comes up again. Telling the guys not to cheat and fining them change compared to the potential for gain is not going to stop it.

[OpIv37]

Isn't there a war going on that our congressmen should be worrying about??? Aren't we as a people getting raped at the gas pumps while oil companies get to merge at will and record astronomical profits???

Look, I love that the Pats are getting their balls busted and that their dynasty might all be a sham, but this reeks of another diversionary tactic by our do nothing congress to get our minds off of the issues in hand. This reminds me of the Terry Shiavo nonsense and gay marriage baloney that they tried to sell us.

Go Bills.

"Independent investigation" doesn't mean Congress has to do it. It just means someone other than the NFL has to do it.

I just hope the NFL doesn't destroy the tapes like they did last time.

And I don't know how Goodell gets off saying it's "consistent" with what they've already been punished for when the Walsh tapes show that it went to a much larger extent.

[Mitchy moo]

"Independent investigation" doesn't mean Congress has to do it. It just means someone other than the NFL has to do it.

I just hope the NFL doesn't destroy the tapes like they did last time.

And I don't know how Goodell gets off saying it's "consistent" with what they've already been punished for when the Walsh tapes show that it went to a much larger extent.

hmmm, BS,hmmm

[gr8slayer]

I wish this crap would just go away; I'm so ****ing tired of hearing about it.

[Oaf]

Everyone gets to scout NE's practices for a year. :mad:

[trapezeus]

Isn't there a war going on that our congressmen should be worrying about??? Aren't we as a people getting raped at the gas pumps while oil companies get to merge at will and record astronomical profits???

Look, I love that the Pats are getting their balls busted and that their dynasty might all be a sham, but this reeks of another diversionary tactic by our do nothing congress to get our minds off of the issues in hand. This reminds me of the Terry Shiavo nonsense and gay marriage baloney that they tried to sell us.

Go Bills.
exactly, it is diversionary and its off the larger topic, but it doesn't seem like DC fixes any of the bigger issues, so why not at the very least settle a football issue.

Seeing how all these politicians are trying to out "patriot" the other candidates, what is more american than saying, "i want a fair football game, because i bet on these games and i need to know that the field is relatively balanced."

It's also hilarious that washington could potentially call shenanigans on Football for not being fair while they see nothing odd that we pay 35% in income tax on a modest salary, but allow Hedge Fund Billionaires to pay 15% on literally hundreds of millions of dollars.

[Meathead]

god these same stupid ass arguments come up every time spector comments on the situation

the nfl is a monopoly yet they are granted exemption from antitrust laws so they can exist at all. thats a tremendous amount of power and power is prone to be badly abused. it is not only appropriate that the gubmint be involved in this cheating incident, it is absolutely required and a responsible thing to do

if i had to rate every american politican in terms of ethics and character and honesty and intelligence arlen spector would be easily in the top three. if he is involved it is only because he is serving the country the best way he knows how. just because most of them are self serving jackasses doesnt mean you should lump good people like spector in with that disgusting crowd

[jamze132]

I really want the Pats hurt...

And I am glad that Specter is pushing this so hard. I have never been a firm believer of government politics in professional sports but the NFL is more than just a sport.

[ddaryl]

I wish this crap would just go away; I'm so ****ing tired of hearing about it.

I'm not

I hope it is brought up at every Pats game. I hope fans at every away Pats game pelt the tema and bellicheck with tomatoes.

I hope the press never ceases to ask them if they cheated after every game.

I definitely do not want it to go away, and the only people who would are Pats fans.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

I really want the Pats hurt...

And I am glad that Specter is pushing this so hard....

Me, too.

I wish Goodell had the guts to push it, but, since he tried to sweep it under the rug, I'm glad that someone with the power to keep it going has decided to do so.

I'd like to see the Pats lose all draft picks (even those acquired in trades) for one full season. But, so they don't use the money that they save on rookies to buy veteran free agents or keep their own, I would like them to be docked the amount that would have been allocated for their rookie cap: the money to be donated to the fund for destitute former players and the full amount to count against their salary cap figure.

Actually, I would apply this kind of fine that counts against their salary cap for two years, with the loss of draft picks occuring only in one season.

That would be a stiff penalty because, in addition to losing a full draft class, the team would lose salary cap room in the second year of the penalty (where they would be docked the amount of their rookie cap, but would still have to pay that amount to their draft picks that year) that would make it harder in that year to retain some of their veteran players.

But, IMHO, an extremely stiff penalty is in order because we know that they taped all three of their AFC East rivals and they would not have spent the time and money to tape them if it didn't give them a competitive advantage, which, then, gave them a competitive advantage in at least 6 of their 16 games each season--or nearly a third of their games in any given season over a 6-7 year period.

Docking them one first round draft pick, but allowing them to use the money that they would have spent on that draft pick to sign or retain a veteran is hardly a severe enough penalty for obtaining that kind of competitive advantage over such a long period of time. IMHO it is hardly enough to prevent some other team from seeking to gain such an advantage by the same or other means in the future.

[Bill Cody]

god these same stupid ass arguments come up every time spector comments on the situation

the nfl is a monopoly yet they are granted exemption from antitrust laws so they can exist at all. thats a tremendous amount of power and power is prone to be badly abused. it is not only appropriate that the gubmint be involved in this cheating incident, it is absolutely required and a responsible thing to do

if i had to rate every american politican in terms of ethics and character and honesty and intelligence arlen spector would be easily in the top three. if he is involved it is only because he is serving the country the best way he knows how. just because most of them are self serving jackasses doesnt mean you should lump good people like spector in with that disgusting crowd
Spectre won't get Congress to investigate this and Goodell has already said it's over as far as the NFL is concerned. Most members of Congress are busy with matters of real substance and they are not going to devote time and resources to Spectre's hopes of getting the Eagles a back door SB win. And pardon me for saying this but your saying Spectre's one of the three most honest politicians is laughable- how would you know that? Does anyone really know who's honest? I'll bet there aren't three honest politicians on the planet.

[PromoTheRobot]

Isn't there a war going on that our congressmen should be worrying about??? Aren't we as a people getting raped at the gas pumps while oil companies get to merge at will and record astronomical profits???

Look, I love that the Pats are getting their balls busted and that their dynasty might all be a sham, but this reeks of another diversionary tactic by our do nothing congress to get our minds off of the issues in hand. This reminds me of the Terry Shiavo nonsense and gay marriage baloney that they tried to sell us.

Go Bills.
The NFL has proven they can't and won't police themselves. So who else is going to keep sport honest? You have to be blind and asleep not to see how f***ed-up Goodell's handling of Spygate has been:

1) They punish the Pats for taping signals in 06 and 07, but give no additional punishment when it turns out the Pats" have cheated since 2000!

2) They destroy evidence before allowing anyone the chance to see what was on the tapes.

3) They involve the Patriots and their attorneys in a supposedly unbiased investigation of the tapes Matt Walsh produced.

4) They focus on the lack of a video of the Rams Super Bowl walk-thru even when Walsh admits he was there and gave Pats coaches info on what he saw.

5) They ignore the fact Belichick lied about not knowing the rules when Walsh was under orders not to get caught.

6) They take the Patriots at their word that videos were not used in the same game, even after Belichick has been caught lying several times already.

Thank god Arlen Specter is calling for an investigation. I'd like to know why the rest of Congress isn't outraged? We have a league that turns a blind eye to rampant cheating and the possibility that 3 championships were won fraudulently.

If 8 players were banned for throwing the 1919 World Series, and Pete Rose was banned for life for betting on baseball, why is Bill Belichick still allowed to coach in the NFL?

PTR

[jamze132]

Me, too.

I wish Goodell had the guts to push it, but, since he tried to sweep it under the rug, I'm glad that someone with the power to keep it going has decided to do so.

I'd like to see the Pats lose all draft picks (even those acquired in trades) for one full season. But, so they don't use the money that they save on rookies to buy veteran free agents or keep their own, I would like them to be docked the amount that would have been allocated for their rookie cap: the money to be donated to the fund for destitute former players and the full amount to count against their salary cap figure.

Actually, I would apply this kind of fine that counts against their salary cap for two years, with the loss of draft picks occuring only in one season.

That would be a stiff penalty because, in addition to losing a full draft class, the team would lose salary cap room in the second year of the penalty (where they would be docked the amount of their rookie cap, but would still have to pay that amount to their draft picks that year) that would make it harder in that year to retain some of their veteran players.

But, IMHO, an extremely stiff penalty is in order because we know that they taped all three of their AFC East rivals and they would not have spent the time and money to tape them if it didn't give them a competitive advantage, which, then, gave them a competitive advantage in at least 6 of their 16 games each season--or nearly a third of their games in any given season over a 6-7 year period.

Docking them one first round draft pick, but allowing them to use the money that they would have spent on that draft pick to sign or retain a veteran is hardly a severe enough penalty for obtaining that kind of competitive advantage over such a long period of time. IMHO it is hardly enough to prevent some other team from seeking to gain such an advantage by the same or other means in the future.
Would you except Tom Brady for JP straight up?

[Bill Cody]

The NFL has proven they can't and won't police themselves. So who else is going to keep sport honest? You have to be blind and asleep not to see how f***ed-up Goodell's handling of Spygate has been:

1) They punish the Pats for taping signals in 06 and 07, but give no additional punishment when it turns out the Pats" have cheated since 2000!
Goodell has said BB admitted he had been taping since he got to NE in 2000.


2) They destroy evidence before allowing anyone the chance to see what was on the tapes.
a) He's the guy that metes out the punishment. Who does he need to show the tapes to? b) In any case we now have 8 tapes of the kind that were made released to the press. We know what he was taping, that's how he was caught!


3) They involve the Patriots and their attorneys in a supposedly unbiased investigation of the tapes Matt Walsh produced.
How does having the Patriots attorney sit in on the meeting bias things? If you were being accused of something wouldn't you want your attorney there to hear the basis of the charges?


4) They focus on the lack of a video of the Rams Super Bowl walk-thru even when Walsh admits he was there and gave Pats coaches info on what he saw.
Spying is not illegal. Taping is.


5) They ignore the fact Belichick lied about not knowing the rules when Walsh was under orders not to get caught.
Goodell never bought BB's explanation. That's why they got the penalty they got and not a slap on the wrist.


6) They take the Patriots at their word that videos were not used in the same game, even after Belichick has been caught lying several times already.
So you believe Matt Walsh about attending the walkthrough but not that he maintained custody of the tapes during the game and that tapes were never used in the same game. Why?


Thank god Arlen Specter is calling for an investigation. I'd like to know why the rest of Congress isn't outraged? We have a league that turns a blind eye to rampant cheating and the possibility that 3 championships were won fraudulently.

If 8 players were banned for throwing the 1919 World Series, and Pete Rose was banned for life for betting on baseball, why is Bill Belichick still allowed to coach in the NFL?

PTR

Spectre is an as$ clown that was elected to do real work not stick his nose into the NFL's business. I'm no fan of BB but this issue is as boring as it can be now. Let it go.

[ublinkwescore]

[QUOTE=DrewBlueFan]Goodell has said BB admitted he had been taping since he got to NE in 2000.


a) He's the guy that metes out the punishment. Who does he need to show the tapes to? b) In any case we now have 8 tapes of the kind that were made released to the press. We know what he was taping, that's how he was caught!


It doesn't matter, if Govt. decides to get involved, wouldn't they have a right to all evidence in order to decide how best to handle the situation?

Goodell destroying the tapes should piss every one who isn't a pats fan off.

[PromoTheRobot]

I wish this crap would just go away; I'm so ****ing tired of hearing about it.
Your tired of learning about how an NFL team cheated its way to 3 super bowls and got away with it? Read the timeline of the investigation. Your head will explode in anger over the con job Goodell is pulling off here.

PTR

[Oaf]

Walsh: They were really trying to cover it up from being discovered.

Belicheat: Of course we've been taping since 2000. We had no idea it was wrong.

[YardRat]

Spectre is an as$ clown that was elected to do real work not stick his nose into the NFL's business.

As long as the NFL maintains it's exemption from anti-trust laws, their business is Congress' business.

[PromoTheRobot]

How does having the Patriots attorney sit in on the meeting bias things? If you were being accused of something wouldn't you want your attorney there to hear the basis of the charges?
.
When you get investigated, you don't get to participate in your own investigation. It's called conflict of interest. Did they skip that chapter in law school, Perry Mason?

PTR